While browsing around online for bookshops on the lower east side of Manhattan, I saw this one pop up not far from Tompkins Square Park, where I figured I could take a break and read in the shade with an iced coffee. Not a bad one-two punch. So I cut my way over from the Union Square area where I’d been visiting two old favorites, Alabaster and Strand Books, and I eventually came upon this minimalist shop. It reminded me of a bookstore for an art gallery, one that straddles chic and experimental, and it used a lot of open/white space to offset its artistic and avant-garde collection.

Editorial Note: The Bookshop "Reviews" express my own thoughts and feelings on shops based upon first impression visits. The Bookshop "Interviews" express the thoughts and feelings solely of those interviewed, and I have made the choice to not censor any viewpoints, be they positive or negative, for the sake of representing candid individual expression about our love, distaste, impressions, and complex relationships with bookshops in our own communities. I encourage all readers to visit the shops represented here and decide for themselves how they feel about each!